For the multimillion-dollar makeover of the 5-Star Sofitel Paris le Faubourg, local designer Didier Gomez looked to feminine influences, which now exist “either in the form of the design—with curves; or with photos emphasizing the female body—the shoulders, the hips; or through color,” he says of the elements that have added fashion and polish to the former private mansion located in the elegant Faubourg Saint-Honoré neighborhood.
The location helped determine the sophisticated look of the 111-room, 36-suite property.
“The hotel interiors are all about haute couture, and the atmosphere of the 18th century blended with the modern epoch,” Gomez explains. “It lies at the heart of the fashion district, which equates with everything that is France for many foreigners.”
Gomez’s design inspiration was “a kind of nostalgia for the luxury of Paris of the 1950s to ’60s, coupled with very precise color codes—black, white, gray, and gold,” he says, along with other added splashes of color. The interiors were inspired by modern life, while also nodding to the building’s history as a grand private townhouse, with contemporary and custom furniture pieces, paintings, and fashion-inspired photos.
“Throughout the hotel, I’ve sought to create that balance between old and new,” Gomez says. That starts in the lobby, with its gray stone walls, pillars, and moldings lit with gold leaves; where a frescoed glass roof and ’70s-style chandelier shimmers, recalling a bejeweled cocktail dress.
In guestrooms, “mirrors and crystal conjure up that magic aspect, and create a play between the décor and light,” says Gomez, who included sparkling pendants, Cecil Beaton photographs for Vogue, studded gray leather cases around the closets, and soft interiors of gray, ivory, and light blue.
The 18th century is most playfully reinvented in the suites with their elaborate anthracite pilasters and floral moldings set against large-scale charcoal drawings above beds backed by minimalist gilt-edged satin headboards and mirrors. Striking contemporary artworks in shades of gold, bronze, chocolate, and chrome yellow match the sofa upholstery and silky fabrics.
The feminine form also appears in the suites—which Gomez describes as “bouquets of flowers”—in the shapely lamps, soft voluptuous velvet and satin, and iconic 1950s photos of models by Erwin Blumenfeld and Irving Penn. These private boudoirs boast large dressing rooms and windowed bathrooms with mosaic tiles.
And crowning the ultra-mode suites, the single Couture Apartment has a drawing room, three bedrooms, and a study-dining area done in sophisticated tones of brown, beige, and ivory. In the main bedroom, marked by a geometric-patterned carpet, golden panels symbolizing the sun and the moon frame a chestnut satin headboard, while a willowy-silhouetted white floor lamp is inspired by a couturier dress.
